Home Tags Posts tagged with "bookshare"
Tag:

bookshare

Special Needs

Digital Tools for Dyslexic Students

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Dyslexia is a learning disorder affecting a person’s reading, writing, and spelling ability. There are many ways teachers can support dyslexic students, including allowing them to use digital tools. Many digital tools and assistive technologies have emerged, making it easier than ever for dyslexic students to succeed in school.

Let’s look at some of the most effective digital tools tailored for dyslexic students.

1. Text-to-Speech Tools

Natural Reader is a text-to-speech tool that can convert any written text, such as MS Word, a website, PDF files, and emails, into spoken words. It offers a range of natural-sounding voices, allowing dyslexic students to listen to content rather than solely relying on reading.

Image of ReachDeck's homepage showing the ReachDeck toolbar for accessibility.

ReachDeck Toolbar is a web page navigation software available for most versions of Windows that is designed to help those with dyslexia and second-language learners browse the internet. The software strips the web page down to its essential text so the user can focus on the text alone. Its text-to-speech feature also comes with a magnifying glass icon that follows the text as it is read aloud.

For more text-to-speech tools, check out this blog post.

2. Speech-to-Text Tools

Google Docs has a feature called “voice typing.” To use voice typing, your computer microphone needs to be on and working. Open a document in Google Docs. Click Tools and then Voice typing. A microphone box appears. When you’re ready to speak, click the microphone.

Image of Speechnotes home page explaining this to be a speech-to-text, voice typing, and transcription digital accessibility tool.

Speechnotes is a web-based speech-to-text tool that allows students to quickly dictate their notes instead of typing them. This will save them time and effort. Some additional features of the tool include transcribing and adding punctuation.

3. Dyslexia-friendly Fonts

OpenDyslexic for Chrome is a chrome extension that overrides all fonts on web pages with the OpenDyslexic font. It formats pages to make them more readable. It was created to increase readability for students with dyslexia.

BeeLine Reader is a tool that uses color gradients to guide the student’s eyes from one line to the next. This can help with reading speed and comprehension. BeeLine Reader also includes a setting option for an Open Dyslexic Font, allowing students with dyslexia to read in an adjusted font.

4. Mind Mapping Tools

Image of MindMeister's home page explaining this to be a collaborative mind mapping tool.

MindMeister is an online tool that enables collaborative mind mapping. It’s excellent for group projects or brainstorming sessions. For dyslexic students, visualizing information can be an effective way of understanding and retaining what they are learning.

Google Drawings is one of my favorite tools. It’s so easy to create a mind map in Google Drawing. Google Drawing allows you to draw shapes, write text, and then connect them. You can add color, images, and even share your mindmap.

5. Audio Books & Bookshare Services

Bookshare is a site that offers text-to-speech audiobooks for students with dyslexia. Students can listen to books, follow along with highlighting, read in braille or large font, and customize their reading experience.

An image of Learning Ally's home page.

Learning Ally is an excellent resource. It offers text-to-speech audiobooks for students with dyslexia. It offers a plethora of educational texts and literature.

6. Note-taking Apps with Audio Integration

OneNote with Learning Tools offers an ‘Immersive Reader’ mode, which reads out text and highlights it simultaneously, aiding comprehension.

Notability is an app that is beneficial for iPad users. Students can take notes, annotate PDFs, and even record lectures for playback.

These tools can not only offer support for dyslexic students, but they can also help instill a love for learning. Accessibility tools help every student be successful in the classroom. Remember, the effectiveness of these tools may vary from person to person. Therefore, finding which ones work best for each student is essential.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Content Areas

Texas High School Bookshare Member Prepares for Transition to College

by Alexis Cline
written by Alexis Cline

Guest Blog Post By Valerie Chernek, Bookshare Communications

“It is no longer difficult to find accessible books, and I will use Bookshare for a lifetime,” says Emeline Lakrout.

“Just a few years ago, it was difficult to find accessible books,” says Emeline Lakrout, who has degenerative low vision. “I appreciate that my parents sought reading solutions for me starting at a young age. I have always been able to enjoy reading because of their efforts.”

Now 17, Emeline takes honors classes at Reagan High School in San Antonio, Texas. She is an avid reader and technology user who is interested in all kinds of books and genres, from classics like The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck to historic accounts of the Cold War era, like Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety by Eric Schlosser.

In high school, she taps into the Bookshare online accessible library for textbooks, novels, and academic research, like test prep for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, and AP exams. She reads quickly and credits many of her teachers for providing required reading assignments at the beginning of each school semester, especially in English. “This helped me stay on track with my studies and classmates,” she says.

Emeline uses an iPad with Bookshare’s Read2Go app and a Lenovo Android tablet with Bookshare’s Go Read – a free, open source app. These technologies include accessibility features to enable a user to enlarge the font size or follow along as highlighted words are read aloud. You can change the rate of speed of a voice or place a bookmark on the last page you’ve read. “These features provide extra support for me,” says Emeline. “Now I get all my accessible books from Bookshare and plan to use it for a lifetime.”

Busy preparing college applications, Emeline intends to study social sciences and likes to explore the online library for titles about careers, business, leadership, politics, and pleasure reading.

“Bookshare is really convenient,” she says. “It has a category of popular books and recommended bestsellers. It is always fun to scan through these titles and download a few books for safe-keeping. I also read periodicals when I can, like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times. It’s like having a reading backpack on the go. You don’t need another library resource – just an Individual Membership – and you’ll have all the titles you will want to read.”

Texas K-12 public and charter schools serving students with print disabilities can get free, customized Bookshare training and support through the TEA-funded Accessible Books for Texas (ABT) program. Contact your local ABT Outreach Coordinator to help more children who are blind, have low vision, a physical disability, or a learning disability, like dyslexia, improve their reading experience.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail
Content Areas

Top 100 Picture Books with Image Descriptions Now in Bookshare

by Alexis Cline
written by Alexis Cline

Guest Blog Post by Laura Deck, Bookshare Communications

Imagine for a moment that you cannot see the illustrations in a book you are reading, nor can anyone describe them for you. Your reading and listening experience would certainly be incomplete. Images and image descriptions in books can provide a full multi-sensory reading experience for young readers, especially children with print disabilities, such as blindness and low vision.

Did you know that Bookshare recently added to its collection the Top 100 Picture Books? The list came to us through the School Library Journal, one of the essential sources of information about children’s literature. These well-loved and treasured tales have been shared and read by grandparents, parents, teachers, and children. They are all engaging stories with heartwarming illustrations to bring characters to life. And, of course, there are plenty of wonderful books that aren’t on this list in Bookshare, but we knew we’d have a worthwhile collection chosen by a knowledgeable group of school librarians.

Educators and parents know how important books are for the earliest readers. Getting kids “hooked on books” through the classic bedtime picture book has profound effects on lifetime literacy, both from how a child learns to read to how a child perceives him/herself as being part of the world of books. To get started, browse through the Top 100 Picture Books and search for your favorite characters, such as Curious George, Frog and Toad, Harold and his purple crayon, Madeline, and Peter Rabbit. Then log in, select a book, get comfortable, and click on Read Now to enjoy one of your favorites in Bookshare Web Reader.

Not a member of Bookshare yet? Qualified U.S. students and organizations can become members of Bookshare for free. Texas K-12 public and charter schools serving students with print disabilities can also get free, customized Bookshare training and support through the TEA-funded Accessible Books for Texas (ABT) program. Contact your local ABT Outreach Coordinator today. https://www.bookshare.org/cms/state/texas.

0 comment
0 FacebookTwitterPinterestLinkedinEmail